Question: Aspergers and CT shooting

[Rilbur]

A.  Don't put too much faith in the mainstream press.  They would be reluctant to criticize a major drug company; may be the reason The Daily News revised their story.

 

Don't put too much faith into the 'underground' press; it's filled with 'experts' who don't know as much as they think they do.  People who panic over radiation exposure, and then turn around and don't even think about the radiation they get from an airplane flight.

 

I wish I could link some examples of that type of behavior, but my google-fu just isn't strong enough to pull up the examples I remember.  One had to do with radiation; another had to do with a compound being moved into a 'potentially carcinogenic' category that also contains things like coffee.  In the end, the base issue is that a lot of people overlook that the human body is an incredible machine.  Yes, certain things might cause issues, but frankly the 'burden' they place on you just is not that severe.  It makes sense to avoid unnecessary exposure, but don't give a fit over minor exposures.

[NotNoNever]

Bee, I know you may think you have the right to use the word retard, but I'd ask you not to. Many aspies and autists find it incredibly annoying, because many of us are just as 'retarded' in some specific ways as NTs are in many others. Use that word on AFF and you get suspended, and kicked to blazes. Use it again, you get banned. Aspergers, even some moderate autism (as it's going to be called) has little mental 'retardation', quite a lot if hyper-ability, and a deficit in people skills and other sensory issues (such as disliking body contact!). Don't make me get the hugs emoticon out

[hh5]

sign petition (from change.org) if interested in making a difference - "United Healthcare: Stop cutting off medical coverage for Autism at age 9"

 

 

I am the mother of four young children. My oldest is a magnificently quirky, confident, brilliant 8-year-old boy, named Linus, who just happens to have Asperger's Syndrome. 

http://www.change.org/petitions/united-healthcare-stop-cutting-off-medical-coverage-for-autism-at-age-9-2?utm_source=action_alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=15742&alert_id=DUZZYPRJbR_DcDNiUTdOk

Edited December 23, 2012 by hh5

[Stellar]

Oh wow, I only just stumbled upon this thread so I'm sorry if I'm reopening it after a while of dormancy, but I saw it and I *had* to say something, mostly to the OP.

 

I have Asperger Syndrome. My profile has some basic information about the disorder and how it may pertain to me. I discovered the condition as an adult in my late 20s, so I did not receive any special developmental aid when I was younger that might have helped me adjust to a world that did not quite seem right. Curiously enough, I self-diagnosed, instantly recognising myself in the extensive list of 'symptoms' after I happened to see a character with Aspergers on a very annoying local television soap drama and did some research on it. Shortly thereafter, a psychologist tested me with the Cambridge 'official' test and agreed with my self-diagnosis. In many ways, the realisation was more liberating than discovering my sexuality. There was no longer any uncertainty in my mind about who I was. All the weirdness that existed, the parts of my personality that didn't mesh, suddenly weren't quite so chaotic. It was landmark moment, a life-shaping one, certainly.

 

So, I read over this thread although I freely admit that there was a huge amount of text-wall, so portions were skipped for the sake of brevity, I do want to say a couple of things.

 

Firstly, that Bee and the others who have said that no two people with Aspergers are completely alike, are correct. The best analogy I can think of is a sound mixer with various sliders on it. Instead of controlling sound, consider each to represent a trait that is particular to those with Aspergers or mild ASD; the slider could be fully up or fully down or sitting somewhere in the middle for any given attribute. Consider also that the traits are expressed differently from individual to individual to begin with, before you take into account severity. While one trait may be on full blast for one person, it may be turned right down for another. The combination of those 'settings' is what gives you the individual and his (or her) personality makeup.

 

Secondly, that violence is not a characteristic. That is not to say that in conjunction with other factors, it might have contributed to where Adam Lanza's head was at when he committed those murders. However, you can say exactly the same for a great number of life's pressures on the mental state, and simultaneously strip any concept of personal responsibility and accountability for those killings if you start down that logical path. I think it was NNN who was saying that the difficulty reading and communicating emotions can cause a great deal of frustration and irritation (oh boy do I know this one first hand!); while it can provoke what would seem like spontaneous outbursts of intense emotion if pushed the wrong way, this is NOT an ingredient for premeditation.

 

Thirdly, that neurotypical (ie. 'normal') people need to be educated on what Aspergers and related types of ASD really are. I have had the full range of reactions from 'psychology is a sham and yours is a made up sickness' (which was one of the most insulting things I've *ever* had said to me) right through to practically being treated like a cripple and offered sympathy. I much prefer the middle ground. At the end of this, we are still people. People that might be different and fit outside the mainstream but ... with the same capacity for emotion and intellect as any other group albeit with an alternate way of experiencing and perceiving the world

 

This is a hugely complex subject! I'm not usually given to making forum posts at all, so it's a rarity for me to comment. On subject matter that is so close to my heart. though? I couldn't let it go by.

[harcallard]

I have not heard of Aspergers until last year? Maybe I didn't know anyone who had it until then...I have met a couple of people who I guess I have scared away.. Seems my out going personality seems to scare them away.. I am currently researching Apserger's so I can understand what it is all about and not take their rejection personally. 

[option]

This just in!  There appears to be a distinct correlation between Ausperger's Syndrome and being a gay author (or reader)!

 

...  I shouldn't joke, but there are people who really would run with that as if it were 'real' science.  (And it's just those types of idiots that scare me the most, to be honest... the ones who don't understand the difference between correlation and causation)

 

 

Ahah! Well, I spent quite a bit of time of the Aspies For Freedom site a couple of years back. Turns out there is a slightly increased incidence of homosexuality among aspies. I'm not sure if there is any real notion why, but I could speculate all day long about it. Put that together with online forums being somewhat easier for people who have less verbal dexterity and interpersonal skills, and you are actually putting a chink of light in there. Although I do agree with you, but I can't say what with

 

 

ever come across the phrase 'extreme maleness'

[Celethiel]

All this conversations about this, gunrights and getting rid of guns makes me think of someone firing a gun in a herd of animals and watch them scattering like well herd animals... looking for something anything to figure out what scared them so...

 

Aspergers isn't to blame for the shooting nor is any particular mental illness....

Guns are not to blame... in the end someone had to hold the gun

What's to blame, people or specifically the person who did it, and those who were around him who caused the problems, and allowed the person to slip away mentally...or forcing them to slip away.

Culture is to blame and thusly humanity in general is to blame...

This whole debate has become very reactionary....

HH5 you've turned into your father or your elders...

 

We've had guns in the common man's hand since the 1400s... six shot pistols since the 1800's, high round ammunition since 1950s or 60's

Video games and violent ones since the 1980s....

Mental Diseases for as long as there have been humans. ...

 

Perhaps you should be asking why now, and not earlier, what are the conditions that cause such violence culturally.

Remember however at one point it was rather common place to massacre an entire town, Jericho for instance....

It was also common place to rape, pillage and murder your neighbors...

it was once common place to marry at 13 years old, and for the parents to arrainge the marriage...

it was once common place to have 16 kids, and have half of them die in childhood...

it was once common place to be Forced to live together in a marriage that didn't work for your entire life for fear of being stoned...

 

By the by... mental diseases or diagnosed cases of them have gone up and continue to do so, perhaps one should ask why to that as well...

 

Option, I do beleave the phrase "extreme Maleness" is actually a commonality among males

[JamesSavik]

I think that it is very telling that every high profile shooter was either on or recently stopped staking an SSRI medication.

 

I have to wonder about that and why we're not talking about banning those medications.

[Celethiel]

I think that it is very telling that every high profile shooter was either on or recently stopped staking an SSRI medication.

 

I have to wonder about that and why we're not talking about banning those medications.

Medications on a whole mess with the human machine's balance, but mind "altering" drugs as I consider anti-psychodics or any other ones perscribed by psychiatrists to control their patients do so more then some others....

for instance, there is an antipsychodic that makes you want to eat until you get fat then gives you diabetes which you die from...

others can give you other things...

more then this... These medications actually can have periminant side affects even after they're removed... the Anti-depressant Paxil for instance. And can add new disease such as Mania... which a Manic depressed person is more likely to commit suicide then those who don't... and then these drugs don't actually releave the person of most of the affects of their problem.